80% of Traffic Accidents Involving Elderly Pedestrians Occur Near Markets and Public Transportation Facilities

Ministry of the Interior and Safety Takes Action on 321 Improvements Including Jaywalking Prevention Facilities

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 7th that from October 29 to November 4, joint inspections were conducted at 43 locations with frequent elderly pedestrian traffic accidents, in cooperation with local governments, the National Police Agency, the Korea Road Traffic Authority, and the Korea Senior Citizens Association, identifying 321 facility improvement items to be addressed.

According to investigations by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Road Traffic Authority, among the total 3,349 road traffic accident fatalities last year, 39% (1,302 people) were pedestrian deaths, of which elderly pedestrian deaths accounted for 57% (743 people), showing that the elderly are the most vulnerable to pedestrian traffic accidents.

In particular, a total of 313 elderly pedestrian traffic accidents occurred in the 43 high-accident locations. The places with the most accidents were markets at 65% (204 cases), followed by areas around stations and terminals at 14% (44 cases), and areas around hospitals at 12% (39 cases).

Regarding the types of accidents involving victims, 35% (112 cases) occurred while crossing the road, 14% (45 cases) while traveling on the roadway, 5% (15 cases) while walking along the roadside edge, and 5% (14 cases) while on sidewalks. As for the types of legal violations by offending drivers, failure to drive safely accounted for 71% (222 cases), violation of pedestrian protection duties 17% (53 cases), and signal violations 4% (13 cases).

By month, November had the highest number of accidents (42 cases); by day of the week, Friday had the most (60 cases); and by time of day, the morning hours (10 a.m. to 12 p.m.) recorded the highest number of accidents (61 cases).

Based on these statistics, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety conducted on-site inspections and analyzed that a total of 321 facility improvements are needed, including installation of jaywalking prevention facilities, securing sidewalks, installation of speed reduction facilities, and visibility improvements.

Among these, 248 cases (77%) that can be improved in the short term, such as sign maintenance and road surface painting, will have maintenance plans established by local governments and are scheduled to be improved by the first half of next year.

Additionally, 73 cases (23%) that require significant budgets or consultations with related agencies and residents, such as lane width reduction and designation of pedestrian-priority roads, will be completed by the end of next year. If local governments lack budgets during the facility improvement process, financial support will be provided.

Considering that elderly pedestrian traffic accidents frequently occur around markets and public transportation facilities, plans to designate these areas as elderly protection zones will also be promoted in consultation with the National Police Agency.

Gu Bon-geun, Director of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Life Safety Policy Division, stated, "Since elderly deaths account for more than half of all pedestrian fatalities, we will continue to conduct diagnoses and maintenance of high-accident areas to reduce elderly pedestrian traffic accidents."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.